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News Archives

The cynicism driving cuts in English

Published: 27th January, 2021

The proposed cuts to English at the University of Leicester have been universally condemned worldwide, with hundreds of distinguished scholars warning of reputational damage to the University and the ways in which the student experience will be impoverished. Some of the staff at risk of redundancy unpick the inconsistencies in the cynical thinking that is…

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First statement on threatened compulsory redundancies

Published: 25th January, 2021

On date 18 January – the first day of second semester teaching and also ‘Blue Monday’ – senior managers at the University of Leicester wrote to 145 members of staff informing them that their jobs were at risk of redundancy. Managers are calling their plans Shaping for Excellence.The affected staff are in five academic departments…

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Leicester UCU has ‘paused’ health and safety dispute

Published: 4th December, 2020

Thanks to all members for feeding back your views on the status of our dispute over health and safety concerns and for voting on how to proceed with this dispute. The email sent to all members with that survey outlined the position we had reached through the dispute resolution process can be accessed here. A…

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Changing the Pre-Change Engagement Process

Published: 4th December, 2020

Based on member feedback and the experiences of Leicester UCU representatives attending the numerous pre-change engagement meetings that have been ongoing since late October, we wrote to the Executive Board with a number of concerns and requests, almost all of which have been rejected. This is extremely disappointing given how prominently the staff members leading…

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Seven months of prioritising health, safety and wellbeing. Plus…

Published: 29th October, 2020

It’s been hard work keeping up with all of the University exectutive board’s emails of the past 7 months. For those who couldn’t quite manage it, here’s our handy summary. April 2020 The health, safety and wellbeing of all staff and students is our top priority. Plus, here’s an emergency workload model that we’ve designed…

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University Restructuring Plans Threaten our Community

Published: 13th October, 2020

We have been told repeatedly by Vice Chancellor Canagarajah and by other members of University executive board that our community is the University of Leicester’s most valuable asset. We have been told that the health and wellbeing of staff and students is the University’s top priority. But today staff are anxious and upset; our community…

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Bolting Horses & Stable Doors: Responding to COVID-19 Cases on Campus

Published: 12th October, 2020

University of Leicester staff were notified of the University’s COVID-19 Strategic Response Framework for the first time on Friday 9 October, 5.45pm, in an email from the Chief Operating Officer, two weeks after students returned to campus. In this email, the COO reported that the “Strategic Framework has been agreed by the local Public Health…

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Lost for Words: Working in Higher Education, Oct 2020

Published: 9th October, 2020

A University of Leicester employee offers some personal reflections on their experience of working in Higher Education as the 2020-21 academic year begins. I’ve been trying to think of a metaphor for working in Higher Education over the last few weeks. It’s not easy because the conditions, quite simply, feel incomparably appalling. I’d like to…

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Campus Safety – Important Information

Published: 5th October, 2020

Email sent to all members of Leicester UCU, 5 October 2020 Following our declaration of a formal dispute with the University over its position on on-campus working, and related Health & Safety concerns, Leicester UCU has received concerning reports from members about their experiences working on campus last week, highlighting flaws in the University’s safety…

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Lives and Livelihoods: in dispute with Executive Board

Published: 2nd October, 2020

Communication sent to all members of Leicester UCU, 2 October 2020 Following an unsatisfactory response from the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, on 30 September 2020, to our requests regarding on-campus working arising from the EGM on 24 September 2020, Leicester UCU has formally notified the University’s Executive Board of a local dispute. We are writing to you today to…

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